A Fresh Bouquet
by Tsume Yuki
Summary: When I was reborn into the Harry Potter world, I'd have gladly have continued life as a muggle, as I was born into a flowery family that would see one sister dead and another estranged. So when it became apparent I would be attending Hogwarts, I was not going to do so quietly. A SI fic
1. Prologue

**A Fresh Bouquet**

_x_

**Prologue**

I never wanted to be reborn. When I'd died at the ripe old age of twenty, I'd been quite happy to go off to heaven, or whatever other afterlife was out there.

I died from my injures in a mass pile-up on the M4. I guess it'd have been a spectacular thing to witness, car after car crashing into one another, but all I got was a face-full of glass and many, many broken bones. My parents, whom had been sat in the front of the car, died instantly upon the collision, and my younger brother died when the car behind of us didn't slam on his brakes quick enough. My older brother died much like me, from his injuries in hospital.

I was the last to go, and I honestly didn't mind. My entire family was dead, I didn't really have much else to live for other than a half finished philosophy degree and the substantial amount of debt that came with said higher education. I was expecting to leave it all behind when my eyes slid shut and I made the decision to stop fighting, to just accept my fate.

I wasn't expecting to wake up.

Or at least, not in the way I did.

.

At first, I thought I was waking up in the hospital again, only that the heating had broken down so that the English winter could cheerfully invade my ward. However, it only took me a few seconds to realize that was not the case.

My newly unbroken body moved freely, but I seemed to have no co-ordination at all. And I was being held by giant hands, hands that wrapped me up in a blanket. My first thought wasn't giants. For once, my brain worked surprisingly quickly and saw to it I came to the right answer.

They weren't big, I was small.

A baby.

I'd been reborn a baby.

And then panic set in. What was I doing being reborn? I was suppose to be going on to heaven or whatever the hell it was that came after life. Not more life. That wasn't how the rules worked, and certainly not with the memories I already had from my previous life. I was twenty years old, and suddenly I was stuck in a twenty second old body. That did not sit right with me, not at all.

So I screamed, and I screamed, paused for breath.

And then I screamed some more.

.

Poppy. Poppy May Evans. Born 14th of March, 1961. That was at least thirty years earlier than when I'd been born during my previous life. At least fifty years before I'd been killed. I was going to be so old when the turn of the century hit. I was born before my old mother. That was an awful thought.

What was not so awful was that I was the youngest sibling apparently.

Father, my new one, had just left the delivery room to go and fetch the two girls, who were waiting with my new grandparents. I looked up at my mother, taking in her appearance. Her hair was blonde and fell around her face in thick waves, while her eyes were a brilliant green. Bright, warm and all smiles directed towards me. It seemed, at the very least, I'd been born into a family who wanted me it seemed. That was good news.

"Petunia, Lily. Come and say hi to Poppy." My brain slowed.

Petunia? Lily? Flower names? Really?

It wasn't until I saw the two girls stood alongside the bed that I clicked onto what was happening here.

Petunia was the clear elder by a year at the very least, with wispy blond hair and watered down, blue eyes. It was similarly obvious that she wasn't the most attractive sibling, that went to Lily. What concerned me more was the bright green eyes and red hair combo that was Lily.

Lily Evans. A Lily Evans with bright red hair, vibrant green eyes and an older sister called Petunia. A girl who looked only a year older than me, thus born in early 1960... No, people don't get reborn into story-tales. It just doesn't happen...

Right?

* * *

><p><strong>This idea has, admittedly, been in my head for many, many months, and I finally got time to sit and write the start. So, erm, yeah. Here it is.<br>****I drew Poppy for the cover picture, so that's her at about eleven years old. Lily's red hair and bright blue eyes. **

**Coming up next;  
><strong>_In which Snape gets more than he bargained for, a few flowers bloom and the mounting evidence can no longer be ignored._

**Thoughts, feelings? Read anything like this before _(Leave a link so I can read it too maybe?)_**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	2. Part 1-1

**A Fresh Bouquet**

_x_

**Part 1-1  
><strong>_In which Snape gets more than he bargained for, a few flowers bloom and the mounting evidence can no longer be ignored_

.

I was eight years old when the iron clad, damning evidence was presented before me.

Petunia was three years older than what I was, Lily a single year my elder. I was the baby of the family, and subsequently, treated like it. Not that I minded. Having experienced one life as the middle child already, I was all for being the youngest for a change, to get away with everything by using nothing more than the little angelic face I'd been born with and a light, innocent fluttering of the eyes.

I looked more like Lily than Petunia, thank the high heavens. Though my face was softer, more of an oval than the heart shaped Lily claimed, we both shared our Father's striking red hair. And while Lily had been the only child to get our Mother's green eyes, I'd gotten our Father's blue, just with Mother's intensity. They were a very bright blue, and for a moment, I'd wondered if both Lily and I had significantly bright eyes because we had magic.

And then I'd beaten down the idea. I was still unsure if I wanted magic or not.

On one hand, hell, it was magic. People just don't say no to that kind of thing.

On the other hand, it was the magical world. As in, the magical world that would be at war. War centred around people like Lily -and possibly me- being the equivalent of a Jew during the rein of the Nazis. At least, from Voldemort's perspective. The thought of going to war terrified me, of getting involved in the fighting. Sure, I didn't mind a playful scrap every now and then -this had made me the ultimate Daddy's girl, the only one willing to wrestle with him- but real fighting? No thank you. Not my area of expertises. Not at all. And yet, magic.

Magic.

It was everyone's dream at some point or another. Did I dare get my hopes up as Petunia would in the future, only to see them crushed? I didn't like thinking on that question too much, so I pushed it to the back of my mind, determined not to think about it until I could no longer do so. Which was why this day was so very important.

This was the day Lily and I met Severus Snape.

.

It was a nice day in July, school was out for the summer and the Evans sisters had been let loose on the neighbourhood. As expected considering my mental age was so much greater than any and all of my classmates,I struggled to make friends. The other children frustrated me, I found it difficult to relate to them, to speak from the same level when we were so obviously not. I pretended not to hear my parents murmur about high intelligence, because with those words, the worry of my socialization skills followed.

Lily was truly a godsend. She took pity on her poor little sister and dragged me all around Cokeworth, and she wasn't above verbally assaulting anyone that dared to call me weird. Just like I didn't care about standing up to children twice my size when they tired bullying Petunia or Lily. I was still nursing a split lip from Chris Booker, who'd dared to pull on Petunia's pigtails earlier this week. I'd come away from the fight better off than him, leaving the boy with what should have been an award winning black eye and a chipped tooth. There was probably some other bruises that I'd not gotten the chance to see, but just knowing they were there was enough to settle my grievances.

Petunia and Lily and scowled and scolded me, but I could tell from the twin looks they shared they were secretly pleased I'd go to such effort to defend them. At the moment, all I had were these two, and I'd fight to the bitter end to keep these siblings alive.

Even if they didn't know that yet.

"Come on Poppy, Petunia promised to meet us by the swing-set."

Our eldest sister had been off, catching up on whatever childish gossip was currently circulating, and I jogged after Lily as she rapidly approached the park, cautious of letting the skirt of my dress catch the sudden breeze.

My legs, little and stubby though they were, had been trained to take at least half an hour of running. I'd joined many sporting clubs during my time at Primary school, seeing as the school work was in no way challenging me. I was doing gymnastics, both long distance running and short sprints, I was on the rounders and the football team. Mother had jokingly called me the jock of the family, but she hadn't been far off. All three of us took ballet classes, but I was the only one that did other classes on top of that. All three of us were learning how to play an instrument too, Petunia had taken to the piano, Lily to the violin, and I to the flute. Having never been a musician before in my previous life, it stood as something that I could occupy my time with.

Considering all of this, the Evans' were doing their damn best to see the three of us turn into proper young women.

There were two plastered littering my legs, one for each knee. I'd taken a tumble -more like I was purposely tripped- in the play-ground just before we broke off for the holidays and still not fully recovered. Stood beside prim and proper Petunia and the ever radiant Lily, I no doubt looked like the wild ruffian pulled down from a tree-house to play girly games. Not that it was true.

The Evans had no such tree-house.

Instead I'd been pulled from the den I'd made under the kitchen table, a habit I'd been forced to grow out of in a previous life as my body grew. I was going to damn well enjoy this freedom while it lasted this time.

.

I noticed him before the other two.

A head of black hair, stringy strands looking as greasy as the written word had once described them to be, poking up and out of the bushes. Dark eyes watched my youngest sister with undeniable focus as I watched him back.

Severus Snape made a sad picture. He was only nine, maybe ten at a push. His clothes didn't fit at all, and I didn't doubt the ensemble smelt of whatever alcohol his father had consumed the previous night. He wasn't a pretty sight, but that could be a given considering his circumstances. There wasn't much a child not even a decade old could do about such a situation that Severus Snape found himself in.

"Lily! Don't do it!"

My head whipped around from where I'd been sat by the legs of the swing-set, threading daisies together to make a flower crown, just in time to see Lily Evans launch off of the swing set. Panic surged through me because she'd been going far too fast, far too high to do anything other than land badly. She needed to stop, right now, otherwise she'd hit the ground.

I didn't realize that she was falling far too slow, staying in the air far too long, until she'd suddenly halted, hovering in the air, bright green eyes wide with surprise. It wasn't until I looked down at my outstretched limb which was held before me, reaching out to the girl, that I realized what'd happened.

Sure, there'd been, happenings, before today. The lock for the back door suddenly unlocked even though I'd tried the door not seconds before and it'd been inaccessible. A football flying into the goal even though it shouldn't have gone anywhere near considering the angle I'd kicked it at. But this, this was the icing on the cake. The final nail in the coffin.

I was no muggle. I wasn't like Petunia.

I was like Lily. There was no doubt any more.

I'd be carted off to Hogwarts too, a year behind Lily. And then I'd have to get involved in a war, regardless of my own desires, simply because I couldn't control who I was born to. Nevertheless, it wasn't panic that boiled under my veins.

It was excitement.

Magic was a double edged sword. I'd have to get involved in the wizarding community but then again, this was magic. Genuine magic. In a few short years I'd be able to change people's hair colours, make a potion to regrow bones, hell, maybe even turn into an animal if I pushed hard enough. There was one thing I did know though. If I was magic, that meant I had the capability to protect Lily. And I would be trying my damn hardest to do so.

"It's obvious, isn't it?"

The sound of a new voice drew my attention back to my sisters, who apparently had new company now.

Snape had surfaced, and while his eyes took a moment to asses my still form, he turned his attention back to Petunia and Lily and continued his conversation. I knew at the exact point he'd announced Lily to be a witch, because her face fell and she walked away, nose held high in the air and united with Petunia in her obvious disapproval.

Snape had gone red in the face by now, darting after the two retreating girls and I grimaced at the sight. He was just a poor, abused kid, not that Lily or Petunia knew that. For Snape, witch wasn't an insult, it was a high standing. Or at least, a higher standing than a muggle. To him, muggle would be worse an insult than witch. He was just socially awkward, the kind that a child his age was allowed to be, not like me.

Getting to my feet, I dusted off the dirt that'd collected around the hem of my dress, approaching the trio with a sigh.

"Come on Lily, we're leaving!" Petunia had grabbed Lily by the wrist now, dragging her away from Snape, who looked crushed. He'd obviously been expecting this encounter to go very differently, been hoping that Lily would be the one he could come to associate with. Because they shared a gift.

Which, apparently I did as well.

.

"I think it means something different to you," I started, watching as Snape's head snapped around to look at me with guarded, dark as coal eyes, "but to my sisters and I, witch is an insult. Commonly associated with elderly women of the not so pretty variety."

Snape stared for a moment, eyebrows drawn together as he thought over my words before a scowl slowly overcame his face.

"That's wrong. Witches are all ages, just like wizards."

Humming, I sat down on the soft earth, patting the ground beside me and watching as Snape carefully joined me, pulling his rather oversized coat inwards. He must have been sweating buckets in the summer sun, but if I'd been wearing the smock that he was, I'd probably have the same reaction.

"Okay, so what's a witch to you then? Because it obviously means something different to you." Absent-mindedly, I plucked up a few more daisies, happy to start on my new crown.

Snape's eyes drifted away, looking in the direction that Lily and Petunia had disappeared. It wouldn't be long until they realized they'd forgotten about me and come rushing back, but I theorized I had a good twenty minutes before that happened. Ten for them to get home, and then ten for them to return.

"A witch can use magic. Like your sister, Lily, did so slow herself down, and you did to stop her completely. You're both witches."

"But not Petunia?" I knew already of course, but it'd seem strange if I didn't.

Snape slowly nodded, dark eyes analysing the way my fingers twisted at the daisy stems, threading the flowers together.

"No, she's a muggle." It was spiteful in the way he said it. Clearly he'd come to associate witches with his kind mother and muggles with his drunken, abusive father. A not so great outlook on life.

"So a muggle is someone without magic?"

"Correct."

Making a noise of agreement in the back of my throat, I ran a hand through my tangled hair, grimacing at the thoughts of having to brush it later on tonight.

"Well, I'm sure Lily will come back later and that she'll listen to you, she's too curious not to hear you out at the very least. Here." I jammed the finished flower crown onto his head, trying to ignore the way he flinched back at the sudden movement, before raising a hand to pat gently at his new headpiece.

"I suppose you can be my friend now but you're not allowed to be mean to Petunia again. Just because I'm not suppose to get into fights doesn't mean I won't, and if you think my lip is bad you should have been Chris Booker when I finished with him for teasing Petunia." Threatening the abused child, probably not so great an idea, but I was going to at least try and keep him on civil terms with Petunia. Who knows, maybe something good would come of it.

"You'll answer all my questions on this magic stuff right? Lily's too, she'll probably have lots of questions."

Blind-sided was how I'd described Snape. He'd evidently come to the park to drop the whole 'you're a witch' bomb on Lily, and gotten far more than he bargained for. Oh well, he'd learn to deal. If I wanted a hope in hell of surviving this war, then I needed information. And at the moment, Snape was my only source.

Picking up the flower that I'd seen Lily discard earlier, I focused, scrunching my nose up. If she could make it bloom with magic, then- ah. Then so could I. I offered Snape the little flower, which he took hesitantly, still looking like cat that'd been caught out in a downpour.

"See you later alligator."

.

I made it halfway out of the park before I heard him call for me to wait.

"Yeah?"

"You never told me your name."

"I'm Poppy, Poppy May Evans. Youngest of the Evans trio."

Snape blinked slowly before offering a hesitant smile, hands free. He'd either discarded the flower or pocketed it.

"Severus Snape."

"Nice to meet you."

And it sort of was.

* * *

><p><strong>Right, so, that review that tells me this is a bad idea and not to continue never came, so here I go. <strong>

**Coming up next;  
><strong>_In which a branch falls, a fight is fought and Snape in once again thunderstruck and more than a little confused_

_._

**Seriously though, I got some honestly fantastic reviews for this, and I'm glad people seem as excited about this as I was about the idea. I've been asked a few round about questions, so I'll do my best to answer them here;**

**Who are you going to pair Poppy up with?  
><strong>_Honestly, I don't have an answer for this at the moment. I'm considering Regulus, just because I love the little we've seen of his character, but then again, just because he quit the Death Eaters, that doesn't mean he dropped his blood purity issues, so if I do go for him expect character building.  
>I can't see her with Snape at all, simply because all she see's at this point is an abused kid, and then when Snape get's older -if you were to ignore the fact he's in love with Lily which is not a fact I'm about to change- he'd be bitter over her seeing him in such a weakened state. So, that's not likely to happen.<br>I can't really picture her with Sirius either, other than as a friend at the moment. But we'll see how her character developed, I have no set plans for this fan-fic other than a rough outline of how the major events are going to go.  
>So, summary, leaning towards Regulus atm, but I'm not worried about pairing for now. <em>

**Where do Lily and Poppy's red hair come from?**_  
>Their father. Mother is blonde, father has shock red hair.<em>

**Does Snape like Poppy?**_  
>As a potential friend, yes. But he's a bit thrown by her general attitude and the fact Lily pays her so much attention as the 'baby sister'. So they'll get along, but they won't be BFF's like Lily and Snape are.<em>

**Will she be a Gryff like Lily?  
><strong>_At the moment, my answer is yes, but that could change between now and Hogwarts chapters._

**Femslash?**_  
>Not with Poppy I'm afraid, if it does happen, which is highly doubtful.<em>

**It's going to be hard to significantly change things without her ending up a pawn**_  
>I know this isn't really a question, but yes, I agree. It will be hard, and hopefully I'm going to be detailing Poppy's struggle to a) stay alive b) remain a 'not pawn' and c) keep the people she cares for alive. Will all three happen in this story? I'd rather not say, so that from that what you will.<em>

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	3. Part 1-2

**A Fresh Bouquet**

_x_

**Part 1-2  
><strong>_In which a branch falls, a fight is fought and Snape is once again thunderstruck and more than a little confused_

.

I was right, Lily did approach Snape the day after he'd tried making contact with her. The two had become almost inseparable over the next month, though they were happy enough to include me whenever they were talking.

Snape seemed to preen under Lily's attention, it wasn't hard to tell he was all but enamoured with her. He was always at the park before the two of us got there, and he would never leave before us either. His home life was obviously not great, and the one time that he'd mentioned his parents were fighting -tagging the word 'again' on the end of that statement had made a lot of things clear- Lily's face had crumpled so fast it might as well have been a sheet of paper in the grasping hands of a toddler. The again, Snape's understanding of normal compassion might as well have been compared to the uncoordinated motor-skills of a two year old child.

Lily was a pleasant child, and she had a pleasant home life. To think about our parents arguing with the frequency that Snape's did obviously unsettled her. She couldn't even begin to imagine being neglected or ignored, so it was understandable that she'd never put thought into other peoples families, to even think that the might be different from her own little slice of perfection.

I on the other hand, already knew this from a past life, that these kind of situations happen for more often than should be allowed, especially in a time such as this. Hell, this kind of thing, hitting a child, wouldn't become a big no-no for another thirty-ish years. That made me cautious in my handling of Severus Snape, and no matter my intentions, he clearly noticed I was careful with out interactions, and that in turn put him on guard, even if he had already registered that I wasn't much of a threat. Only my close connection to Lily, the fact that I could probably pull her away from him -not that I ever would- stood in the way, stopping him from calling me out on it.

And while I'd like to interact perfectly with Snape, it just wasn't possible to ignore the circumstances he found himself in. Not in my mind anyway. It would always be there, I was just observant enough to notice it.

Regardless, the three of us spent time laid out in the park, listening to Snape weave tales on the magical world. Lily, to begin with, took things with a pinch of salt, but the more Snape talked, the more he drew her, drew both of us, into this new and wondrous world. The promise of the extraordinary, of being able to learn how to use magic seemed to stoke up a fire deep within my belly, ideas flying about in my head.

At my promoting, Snape had snuck out one of his mother's old textbooks from her battered school trunk, something he'd never been able to touch before. And while I felt bad for pushing the boy into it, being able to lie on the grass and flick through a transfigurations text, the three of us puzzling out the theories in the written word made for a good day. Lily had started asking Snape questions not long after, while I was holding up a match-stick I'd been able to snatch from the cupboard draw back home. Matchstick to a needle, shouldn't be too hard, should it? I'd made flowers bloom so far, I'd stopped Lily from falling so surely I'd be able to transform a matchstick to a needle. I was going to learn to do this before Hogwarts if it killed me.

.

"Tuney!"

It was after I'd spent a whole hour attempting to transfigure a matchstick and getting nowhere, that Lily's cry of surprise lured me back into the world. Looking up from the small stick in my hand, I tilted my head to a side, peering curiously at a rather red faced Petunia. She didn't appear too happy that she'd been caught spying, not that I could blame her for it.

Shame raced through my limbs as I realized that by joining Lily in coming here, I hadn't been spending as much time with Petunia as I did before hand. While my parents seemed happy enough that Lily and I had made a new friend -especially me, considering what they dubbed my 'antisocial tendencies'- I could see why my sister wouldn't be jumping for joy over it. We were excluding her, and I swore that when we got home I'd bake her an apology cake. Maybe even have a girly sleep-over night, even if we all already lived in the same house.

"Who's spying now? What d'you want?" Snape's sudden shout, the fact he'd leapt to his feet upon Petunia's stumble had me getting to mine, slowly making my way over, hoping to intercept the upcoming insult that Petunia was no doubt grasping for. I really didn't need this happening, I didn't need Petunia to insult the kid that didn't have any friends other than the two of us, but I didn't need Snape feeding Petunia's self esteem issues.

Lily was really the perfect child, well behaved, smart and very beautiful. While I was smart, smarter than Lily -because being smarter than a nine year old was no big achievement- I was also a ruffian. Other parents sniffed and scrunched up their noses at the sight of my scruffy knees, dirt smeared cheeks and missing teeth. I'd lost the last of my baby molars in a fight during school, and the adults were still growing in. Ah, to be teething again.

Unfortunately though, I was too late to stop Petunia, who was now pointing at Snape's chest with a frown on her face and anger in her eyes.

"What is that you're wearing anyway? Your mum's blouse?"

No Petunia.

You do not insult the poor kid on his lack of nice clothing. How could she not know this, she was suppose to be the oldest of us, the mature one.

There was a crack, and then a branch fell upon Petunia's shoulder. This time it was me who moved fast, sprinting the short distance towards my eldest sister to make sure she was okay, to know that she hadn't been truly hurt by the branch. Yes, there were tears in her eyes and no doubt about it that there would be bruising on her shoulder, but it wasn't that bad an injury.

Ignoring Snape and Lily as they began arguing, I reached out for Petunia's arm, and frozen when she flinched back, away from me. Like I'd hurt her or something. Her eyes flashed to me, cool fire in them, before she staggered to her feet and ran away.

I remained where I was, half crouched on the ground, staring after the retreating figure of my older sister and sure how I'd go about offering up that cake I'd been planning to make now. It wasn't until Lily dashed past me, heading off after Petunia that I realized her argument with Snape was over.

Slowly, I dropped back onto my buttocks from where I'd been sitting on my heels, looking down at my hands as I did so.

"What did I do wrong?" Snape's confused whisper saw my head snapping up to look at him, his devastated face the only thing I could really focus on.

"Lily's always been a tender heart. You hurt Petunia, it doesn't matter than she was being mean to you. Sure, you're Lily's friend, but Petunia is her sister, and for the moment, blood runs thicker than water. True, she shouldn't have said that, but then you shouldn't have thrown a branch at her, even if you didn't mean to. Petunia has been there for all of Lily's life. Mine too. She's our sister and she'd started to be excluded because she's a muggle. But just because she's a muggle, that doesn't stop her from being our sister."

Snape's face was scrunched up, evidently trying to figure out what was being said but still struggling. No doubt it was difficult for an only child to understand.

"Well, I better get home and see if she's okay. Bye." I'd really liked to have avoided the resentment between Petunia and Snape growing, but obviously that wasn't going to happen.

So instead I got to my feet, offered the boy a last wave goodbye for the day, and then made my way down the street, trying to ignore the burning gaze that settled on my shoulders.

* * *

><p><strong>I acutally have the chapter after this wrote up, and it's certainly much longer than this one at 2,600 words instead of this measly 1,400. Hopefully they'll keep getting longer. Anyway, there's a poll up, who do you think the boy (mentioned below, is?).<strong>

**.**

**Coming up next;  
><strong>_In which a little girl gets lost, a little boy is helpful and books are apparently more dangerous than they appear_

_._

**Questions and Comments to be addressed;**

**I hope this story doesn't totally follow the cannon timeline;  
><strong>_Yeah, there'll be changes, but that's a given. I personally find it painful when SI and OC stories don't affect cannon at all, and absolutely nothing changes. So she'll be doing something about that, that's for sure. How much, I'm not sure yet. I've only got a rough outline for this so far. _

**To be honest, I think the only reason why Snape liked Lilly so much, was because she was the ONLY person to be nice to him. -ponder- I wonder will he like Poppy more?**_  
>Snape noticed Lily first, she's more his age, and she's a kind person who'll jump into a friendship head first. Poppy is obvious cautious about handling an abused kid, and that shows through in her actions and hesitancy in some ways, which as shown in this chapter, puts Snape on guard. But yeah, Poppy's nice enough. <em>

**It would be fun if she pretended to be a seer**_  
>It would, but I've already started an OCSI story with that idea (All or Nothing) and while I haven't updated it in a while, it's still going around in my head and I don't like using the same idea twice. Plus, she's an actually seer in that one, so that's not something I want Poppy aiming for in this._

**Erm is poppy going to remain on good terms with petunia? I hope so! Is Poppy somehow going to help improve snape household life? Somehow, like in the future or something...?  
><strong>_She'll be on as good a terms as you can with a jealous sibling, but she's not going to totally disappear as Poppy is swallowed up by the magical world. We'll see how that goes. As for Snape's home life, you're right in that there's not a lot she can do, as for what'll happen in the future, I don't know. We'll see. _

_**Assuming this character is based on you (You do state it's a SI), would you yourself be a Gryff, or is it more 'being a kid again' character development with a dash of wanting to protect/be in the same house as the older sister?**  
>I don't know what everyone else is like, but I think that we as people all act differently depending upon the company we have. So I've taken they very basics of my character in general and just thrown them at Poppy, and I'm going to let her own personality evolve as the story goes and events happen. She's going to make mistakes, she's going to be emotional. Basically, she's going to be human. Would I be a Gryff? I've taken the Pottermore test several times and it's always Gryff or Raven for me, so I'd say it's a bit of both really. <em>

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	4. Part 1-3

**A Fresh Bouquet**

_x_

**Part 1-3  
><strong>_In which a little girl gets lost, a little boy is helpful and books are apparently more dangerous than they appear_

.

I'd gotten lost.

Two years had passed by since Severus Snape had popped into our lives, and now it was time to get Lily everything she would need for Hogwarts from Diagon Alley. Even though I hadn't needed confirmation, I'd overheard McGonagall explaining to my parents that yes it was very much possible to produce one child with no magical abilities at all, and then to go on and produce two little witches.

I was a witch, it was set in stone now, and I would be spending my teenaged years at Hogwarts.

The war with Voldemort wasn't quite a war yet, but there was a distinct unrest amongst the people around me, it was evident in the way their eyes moved around the crowds, the way they looked at the muggle-borns and their parents as if they couldn't understand why these other humans hadn't clicked on to the fact there was an almost visible tension in the air. It was the smoke before a fire, the bubbles before a pan of water boiled over. The evidence was there, and I was hesitant to enter this world and all its oddities.

Yet somehow, the idea of stopping to look in the window of another shop had seemed a good idea at the time.

And suddenly, I was without parents. Without Lily. Certainly without Petunia, who'd insisted on going to stay with a friend and flat out refusing to visit Diagon Alley with us. That'd been upsetting.

Looking left and right, I drew myself inwards, stepping out of the path of a blond teenager who looked suspiciously like a Malfoy. I watched him go by with narrowed eyes, watched as he met up with two blonds whom were obviously his parents, his rich parents, before they went on their way. My eyes scanned the crowd again, looking for the fiery red hair that should belong to my father, ignoring the twin heads of ginger hair that had to be Molly Weasley's twin brothers. Not the right kind of red I was looking for.

Walking along the wall of the many shops and swerving out of the way of all the other children and parents buying for the next school year, I tried to be smart about my predicament. I couldn't remember where Lily and our parents had said they were going once they got out of the bank, but they'd eventually have to look into the bookshops as well, right? Lily needed books, and she couldn't get them anywhere else other than the bookshop.

Mind made up, I tilted my head back, squared my shoulders and marched across the street, ignoring the fact my summer dress was significantly shorter than the robes some wizards and witches were wearing. How they were wearing material that trailed on the floor in this weather, I didn't know, nor did I want to find out.

.

Pushing open the door to the book-store, I stepped inside, smiling slightly at the bell that chimed overhead. The scent of parchment, both old and new, hit me and once and I paused, taking a moment to breath in the smell that lingered in the air Behind the counter, the man gave a low cough to disguise his laugh. No doubt any other child that'd come in that loved books as much as I did had the same reaction as my own. I adored books, and now that I could finally get my hands on some, I was almost vibrating with excitement. I'd been saving up my pocket-money for the past two years ever since Snape had confirmed my status as a 'witch' and I was without doubt going to be buying the books that would prove the most helpful. So, anything to do with spell-crafting.

Bouncing over to the man behind the counter, I pressed my palms against the wood and arched my feet upwards, standing on my tiptoes.

"Hi, or good-day or however wizards are suppose to greet one another. My name's Poppy Evans and I'm muggle-born, do you have any books about spell-crafting?"

The man blinked, once and slowly, before a small smile began to grow at the edge of his lips.

"We have a few books, but you'll need a good understanding of magical theory before you can tackle such a subject... How many books will you be buying today?"

You see, that's what I like about these wizards. When they're faced with an intelligent child who should not speak like she did, they didn't investigate like muggles. They just shrugged and brushed it off. Ah, the lack of common sense would be working in my favour here. Praise the Lord. Or, well, Merlin I guess. Praising a Lord here, especially with one running around causing havoc with that title attached to his self-appointed name might not be a good idea.

Okay, it'd be a damn stupid idea.

"I've got 22 galleons, 6 sickles and 23 knuts... I've been saving up my pocket money."

The man nodded solemnly at my serious whisper, and a smile threatened to break out across my face.

"Well little Miss, you want to be looking at Runes for spell-crafting to start off with. It's a third year elective.." He trailed off, obviously taking in my determined expression and the fact I'd pulled out a pen and paper to write the names down before he coughed into one hand and continued talking, "I'd recommend you get 'Ancient Runes Made Easy' by Laurenzoo, 'Magical Theory' by Adalbert Waffling is a must, 'Spellman's Syllabary' and 'Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms' would probably be a big help too. That'll keep you busy for a long while on the whole spell-crafting thing... I don't suppose you're interested in wards as well?"

Pausing in my scribbling, I looked up at the older human before slowly nodding, adjusting my grip on the pen in my hand.

"It's similar to spell-crafting as far as I'm aware, you want a 'Rune Dictionary' and 'Warding for the the Beginner' by Valentine Vivian should just about cover you there. Second floor, on the east facing wall.."

"Thank you."

.

Considering the whole magically bigger inside than out, I should probably have guessed it would take a long while for Lily, my parents and their guide in the form of Professor McGonagall to find me, but this was ridiculous.

I'd been sat for half an hour now, reading the tales of Beedle the Bard, but now I'd finished and had gotten to my feet again to look through the isles. I'd already bought the books recommended for me, because I was pretty sure Mother wouldn't allow me to buy anything when she found me under the account of how I'd 'ran off'. Not that I had. I'd stopped for a second to peer into a shop window and then suddenly I was all on my own.

Grimacing, I scanned the titles, reaching out to pick up a rather interesting sounding one when there was a cough behind me. I paused, turning to look over my shoulder, only to find a boy there, face armed with a winning smile. When he didn't say anything, I turned back around, reaching for the book again. It was his voice that stopped me before I could touch it this time.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. That one will eat you."

Pausing again, I looked at the boy once again, raising a red eyebrow in his direction. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not, he was just looking at me and it was almost unnerving. There's no way the book would do that, it was out for the general public at a level on the shelf where children could get at it. It'd be downright stupid for the owner of the book-store to leave a book that could eat you in such a place.

"Right, well, I'll take that risk." Spinning back around, I reached for the book again, and as soon as my hand made contact with the spine, something else gripped my ribs and I let out a shriek of surprise.

It wasn't until I was spun around that I realized it wasn't the book that'd gotten hold of me at all. No, those were human arms wrapped around my waist. A breathless laugh of relief left my lips as I basked in the joy of not being eaten before everything caught up to me.

"Hey!" Snapping, I pried the arms off of my torso, wiggling out of the boy's grip and twirling around to get a better look at him. My bag -the counter guy had made it extendible for the day, and as long as I got my books out before midnight, they couldn't explode out of it when the charm wore off- was resting by the foot of the shelf, having not magically disappeared during the attack on my person.

"That was not funny."

The boy just grinned, barking out a laugh before flicking his waves of black hair back from his face.

"You laughed, of course it was funny. Like that book would eat you, it's harmless."

"I knew that! You were the one that grabbed me!"

He laughed again, shoulders shaking beneath his expensive looking robe before the mirthful grey eyes looked back up at me from where he was almost bent over double, clutching his stomach. I wasn't quite able to stop the smile twisting at my lips though, because that was the kind of prank I'd have pulled on Lily or Petunia. It as a harmless little thing that only brought about the mildest of embarrassments in a person. I'd been outsmarted by a kid not that much older than my physical body, so what?

"All right, it was funny. What's your name?"

The boy straightened up now, offering his hand to me with a wild grin still on his face. Returning the smile, I placed my hand in his, then flushed when he brought it to his lips and pressed them against my knuckles. Without doubt a pure-blood. Hum, let's see how this will go down.

"Sirius Orion Black, heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Black."

I forced myself not to show any of my emotions on my face, other than the joy we'd just been sharing. This was Sirius Black. He was already a little miscreant, that much was for sure. The question was, did he grow to accept muggle-borns at Hogwarts, or was he already questioning his family beliefs?

"You're a pure-blood?"

"Yep." Okay, he seemed pleased with that fact, I'd have to tread carefully.

"And if I said I was muggle-born?"

His eyes widened in an almost comical manner, looking me over with a significant amount of interest before his brows drew together in confusion.

"But you look like the rest of us."

I snorted. Couldn't help it. He seemed genuinely confused. Sirius was sheltered from other children evidently, other children that weren't pure-bloods. Who knew what kind of rubbish his mother had been filling his head with. No doubt James Potter would be beating that out of him later on. If not, Lily would at least cermet his doubts about what his mother had told him. How could she not? She was brilliant like that.

Okay, maybe I had the tiniest of sibling complexes. Just maybe.

"Poppy May Evans, third and final of the Evans sisters, professional hell raiser and bestower of excellent black eyes." I gave a small bow, watching as Sirius' face lit up and he took another look at me, no doubt taking in the scar on my left knee where I'd fallen over running on the pavement and cut myself, to the large football shaped bruise on my arm from when I'd been in goal two days ago.

"That's an brilliant title, can I get one like that?" Seeing as the boy was genuinely interest, I plucked up my bag, throwing it over my shoulder so it came to rest by my thigh.

"I don't know, how much trouble have you caused?"

Sirius' grin spoke volumes.

"Loads. And I'm gonna cause even more at Hogwarts. We can be in the same house and cause lots of problems."

I snorted, following after Sirius as he walked to the stairs and began trotting down them.

"You'll have to wait a year, I'm only ten."

Sirius' head snapped back around to look at me, a frown on his face as he took in the information I'd just offered him.

"Wait, then how do you know you're-"

"A witch? My sister can do the same things and Professor McGonagall confirmed it for me."

Sirius hummed before snatching up the arm that wasn't steadying my bag, dragging me out of the shop door and out into the street.

"Come on, let's get ice-cream."

.

That was how I found myself sat in Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour with none other than an eleven year old Sirius Black debating the best ice-cream flavour. We'd narrowed it down to orange -my insistence- and chocolate -his choice- when my family and their guide finally found us.

"I don't get it, how can you possibly think orange is better than chocolate?"

"Because orange just has a zing to it! Try it!" I shoved the cone in question under his nose. Granted there wasn't too much of the sweet left, considering we'd been having this argument for the past ten minutes between nibbling on the cone and licking at the cool treat, but Sirius nevertheless accepted the dessert, pressing his own into my open palm. Unlike me, he'd not been so attentive with his melting cream and it'd run down the sides, something that'd leave my hands sticky and smelling of chocolate all day if I didn't get to wash them in good time. Dutifully, I took a good sample of Sirius' ice-cream, letting the flavour seep over my tongue, swirling it around before swallowing as we traded back.

"Nope, still not as good." And I could already tell from the grudging look on Sirius' face his thoughts on the matter.

"I knew I shouldn't have paid."

"You offered." And he had. Fault Walburga Black all you want for imposing her beliefs on people and being a genuinely unpleasant person, but the fact of the matter was she'd brought Sirius and probably Regulus up with manners. I guess the older boy had just chosen not to use them during his time at Hogwarts.

Speaking of Regulus and families, "where are your parents anyway?"

Sirius shrugged, taking a vicious bite of his waffle cone and chomping down on his prize several times.

"Sorting something out at the bank. They do it every year and it takes ages. Reggie's still in there, but I snuck away first chance I got."

Snorting, I took in another mouthful of ice-cream and then almost spat it back out again when I heard Lily's cry of relief.

"I think that's me done for the day," I grumbled, standing from my seat and wishfully looking up at the sun umbrella I'd have had to duck had I not been in the body of a child again. Sirius' face crumpled for a second before it lit back up and he shot to his feet beside me.

"I can write to you though, right? I mean, owls can get to muggle shacks, right?"

"I live in a house you know."

"Really?"

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and finished off the last of my cone, just in time to catch Lily as she threw herself at me.

"I better get back to the bank."

And then Sirius was gone before I could blink, disappearing into the masses of the wizarding population before I could begin to introduce him. It only took one look at my mother's face to know exactly what she was going to say, and I cringed a little as I looked up at her with a sheepish smile.

"Grounded?"

* * *

><p><strong>Figured I'd round the day off with another chapter and bring it up to four in total. So, yeah. Working on the next chapter as we speak, but I've got a deadline coming up -a week today actually- so don't be surprised if I suddenly drop off the face of the earth again. <strong>

**Six of you were right by the way, it was Sirius she met. No, there's no romantic interest between them, they're just going to be friends. So, erm, yeah.**

**.**

**Coming up next;  
><strong>_In which a wand chooses me, I get a pet -or is it the other way around?- and younger siblings prove irritating_

_._

**Questions and Comments to be addressed;**

**She could get into Ravenclaw or Slytherin,  
><strong>_Yes, she could go towards Slytherin, but she won't simply because she knows that going to Slytherin at the moment would be a death sentence, considering the anti-muggleborn propaganda that the pure-blood parents have been passing on to their offspring, and it'd draw far too much attention to her. Ravenclaw though, is a high possibility._

**Do you know how long its going to be?**_  
>Haha, what an excellent question. I don't have the slightest clue I'm afraid, I'm just writing and this story is setting it's own pace. It might slow down in parts, we might have time-skips, I don't have the slightest clue as to what's going on really. I'm just writing I'm afraid.<em>

**_I do like being asked questions, it helps me think and flesh out my story, so keep them coming please._**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	5. Part 1-4

**A Fresh Bouquet**

_x_

**Part 1-4  
><strong>_In which a wand chooses me, I get a pet -or is it the other way around?- and younger siblings prove irritating_

.

It was to the sound of Lily's cheers and my parents proud clapping that I got my wand. Elder with dragon heartstring core, twelve and a half inches, unyielding. Elder. Of course it was Elder.

Ollivander must have read something on my face, because his eyes took on a gleam as he looked me over with a new interest, a frown on his face.

"I don't make many wands made of elder, it is one of the rarest woods and has a bit of a reputation for being unlucky, no doubt due to the most famous wand 'The Deathstick' being made from elder also. In my youth, spent a great deal of time working with elder wood, you're the second person I've sold one of my elder wands to. The old superstition 'wands of elder, never prosper', I believe, is based on the Deathstick, but I don't believe it to be true. It takes a highly unusual person to find their perfect match in elder, but when it does happen, I take it as certain that the witch or wizard in question is marked out for a special destiny. An additional fact that I have unearthed during my long years of study is that the owners of elder wands almost always feel a powerful affinity with those chosen by rowan wands."

"Yeah, highly unusual, that's me..." I muttered weakly, hand shaking as I adjusted my grip on the wand.

It was true though, I was a highly unusual person. Id been reborn into a body that shouldn't have existed in this world, of course I was going to be making waves. Even just my presence here was changing things.

"Can I get a holster as well please?" I'd spent the year, once again, saving up my pocket money, specifically for this reason.

While I'd had little chance to do stuff with Lily over the past year, seeing as she was away for so long at Hogwarts, that didn't mean I'd spent my time lazing about. I'd been studying the books I'd gotten during our previous trip, and had already wrote down several spells I wanted to get a start on making when I got to school. I'd finally managed to wandlessly transfigure a matchstick into a needle and from there, learnt to summon it across a room, but that was the extent of my ability. If my wand got discarded, I'd be able to get it back, but nothing heavier than that.

Another thing I'd been doing was spending time with Petunia. While our older sister was obviously upset about not being able to come to Hogwarts with us, muttering 'freaks' when she thought I couldn't hear, I had managed to badger her into spending time with me.

As a teenager now, Petunia knew all the 'in' styles. And I'd forced myself to take time between my daily runs and whatever magical thing I was working on that day in order to join my sister on the living room floor, pouring over magazines, clothing catalogues and trying out different hairstyles. I'd clocked up at least three days worth of braiding hair over the past year, and I'd gotten quite good and throwing my red hair up into more and more complex styles. I'd without a doubt be missing my older sister, and Lily had promised to allow me use of her owl, Peace, in order to send letters home.

Yes, Lily had an owl called Peace. She'd named it that because together they were 'Peace Lily', but that hadn't stopped me from dubbing her a hippy child. Lily had scowled and stuck her tongue out, but the name had never stuck too much. Hippy Lily didn't have much of a ring to it really.

Whether or not Petunia replied to my letter was as uncertain as a coin landing on heads instead of tails. I had no clue of knowing for sure.

Handing over the money for my new wrist holster, I attached the leather to my wrist, smiling when I came to the quick realization that it attached through a sticking charm. No fiddling about with buckles and straps with my none dormant hand. Slotting my wand into place, I offered Ollivander a chirpy thank you before dashing out into the street after the rest of my family.

Snape was waiting outside, having insisted that he not come in because receiving a wand was traditionally a family only thing, and his whole face lit up as Lily left. It was almost painful knowing that he adored her so much, and Lily really didn't see it as anything other than friendship. But I wasn't going to get too involved in that mess, I have bigger problems on my hands in all honesty. Like the whole 'my sister is destined to die in this story how in hell's name do I stop it' problem. Significantly larger an issue than Snape's love-life. Or lack of. I might feel sorry for the boy, and I might be friends with him, but Lily was my sister. And she would always come first as a result. Petunia too, no matter how much time she spent ignoring me or insulting me. It didn't stop the fact she was my sister.

"Ready to hit the rest of the alley then?" Mother asked, one hand on my shoulder and I twisted my neck back, looking up at her smiling green eyes and nodding.

"So ready."

.

It was in Magical Menagerie that the next big thing of the day happened. I'd been looking through the owls, not really sure I wanted a pet, when a furry head butted against my knee. Pausing, I turned my head to look down at the fluffy creature that appeared to have snuck out of whatever container he'd been in to come and say hello. A pair of bright yellow eyes stared back up at me, unblinking as I crouched down before him.

"Hello," I whispered, reaching out a hand for the cat to take a sniff at. No, not cat. He looked too intelligent for that, so probably a Half-Kneazle.

The long whiskers twitched slightly before those bright yellow eyes returned to look at me again, judging me and weighing my worth. And then, they closed and the head butted against my hand again. I'd come in looking for a pet, but it looked like I'd be leaving as one. After all, it's not really cats that are the pets when it comes to a relationship between them and humans. The black cat stared back up at me as I reached around to carefully pick him up, but he did nuzzle into the crook of my neck once he was safely in my arms.

"Mum? I think I've been chosen."

Mother came racing over instantly, followed by the rest of our group who watched in amusement as she cooed over the Half-Kneazle in my arms.

"What're you gonna name him honey."

"Mors."

There was a single breath of silence before Snape looked up, eyes narrowed slightly as he considered the newly named cat.

"Mors as in Ancient Roman mythological figure of Death?"

"That's the one."

He looked the part with his eerie yellow eyes and black as night fur, so who was I to call him anything else when the name all but jumped to the front of my mind? Mors gave a content purr in my arms and I grinned, shrugging my shoulders as I did so.

"Well, I'm done here."

.

I was stood in the book-store on my own, Lily and Snape having disappeared into the shelves of the potions section and the parents having gone off to take Mors to the car. We were suppose to meet back at the car by six, and our parents had decided they wanted to get out and see muggle London's sights, leaving the three of us in the alley. We'd agreed that we weren't going to leave the store without telling the others where we'd gone, so I was quite content to continue looking through the books, already having added the necessary schooling ones to my basket.

Running my fingers along the spines, I paused on one of the heavier magical theory texts, pulling it out to get a better look at the cover. I needed something a little deeper, something with a lot more detail than what I'd got last year if I really wanted to get into this spell-crafting and warding business, and from what I'd read so far, it sounded like something I'd grow to love doing. I could make a career out of something like that, and I wanted to. Maybe it was a little early to be thinking on that, but hey ho, it was better to be prepared then not be.

My sudden scream had every head in the store turning in my direction, of that I was sure.

"I'm sure I warned you that those books could eat you."

Dropping like a stone as I allowed my legs to give up on the whole standing business, I rolled between Sirius' legs and came to stand up behind him, grinning as I did so. Sure I'd been shocked by that sudden lift but who wouldn't be? Being snatched up around the waist and swung about in the air. Instead of screaming at him some more, I punched the older boy in the arm, playfully of course, and watched as his grin widened as his grey eyes darted between my face and my fist.

"I haven't seen you for a year and that's the greeting I get? Mother was right, you muggle-borns are all ruffians."

Snorting, I opened my arms, offering the older boy a hug of greeting, much like Lily and Petunia got. I'd tried it once with Snape, but the boy had glared me into lowering my limbs and we'd never spoken of it again.

Sirius seemed a bit confused at first, as if not quite sure what to make of the offer, before his face lit up in understanding and he moved in without hesitation, arms wrapping around my waist as my own curled around his shoulders.

"It's good to see you Dog-breath."

"You too Flower-face."

Like he'd said he would when we first met, Sirius had in fact wrote to me. Though it was the typical letters of an eleven/twelve year old boy, he'd still wrote at least twice a week, which wasn't that bad considering Lily wrote home once a week herself. I'd been surprised to see the first letter, because I'd thought he'd forgotten about me to begin with.

We'd even exchanged tentative Birthday and Christmas presents; Sirius was born in October as opposed to my March birthday. It was nothing big, only an exchange of sweets, but it was still something more than what I'd had the year before.

Lily had a friend in Snape, and I had a friend in Sirius.

We'd been tagging the end of our letters with whatever insult we could come up with relating to our names. I had a little more choice than Sirius, considering I could go down either the dog route, or the star route. Sirius only had other flowers to go for.

Stepping back and away from Sirius' arms, I picked up the basket I'd dropped, holstering it on my arm and then holding my hand out, waiting for Sirius to return the book I'd been looking at earlier. He was reading the title, and then flicking through it, eyebrows rising up on his head. After a half a minute passed, he snapped the book shut and looked at me with a considering frowning.

"What did you do all summer, swallow a dictionary?"

"No silly, that was winter. I ate a thesaurus over summer and need something heavier to fill up my stomach."

Sirius barked out a laugh but slotted the book into my basket, grabbing my free arm as he danced around me, tucking it between his own and the warmth of his ribs.

"Come on, you can meet my friends. They're getting ice-cream but I came looking in here since I knew you'd be at the alley today."

"Sure, just let me tell my sister where I'm going then."

.

Books bought and once again stashed in my extendible bag and sister warned I'd be elsewhere with friends, I met with Sirius who'd been waiting outside the door, a grin smeared across his face which brightened as we walked.

"You like pranks right? Tell me you like pranks."

"If they're not harmful then yeah, I like a good laugh. Why? Are you suggesting a prank war?"

Sirius laughed, throwing his head back as if what I'd said was the damn funniest thing he'd ever heard.

"You don't want to get in a war with me Blossom-brain, the Marauders would flatten you!"

"Oh yeah Twinkle-toes? I could go toe to toe with you any day of the week, you'll see." Smirking, I thrust my hip to a side, planting it in Sirius' leg and throwing him off to a side, smirk transforming into a grin when he let out a yelp of surprise.

When he'd recovered his balance, Sirius offered up a mock growl, pulling me into the same ice-cream parlour we'd sat in the previous year. I knew exactly who I'd be meeting today, but it was still something of a shock to see the other three Marauders crowded around the counter-worktop, arguing over which flavour to get while a teen clearly still at Hogwarts proceeded to look more and more harassed.

"Two scoops of orange in a waffle cone for us!" Sirius cried, waving his arm back and forth to get the poor girl's attention.

Frowning -because what happened to the polite pure-blood manners?- I elbowed Sirius in the ribs, ignoring the three Marauders that'd spun around to get a look at us.

"What are you, a puppy? Say your please and thank you's!"

"Thank you," Sirius stressed in return as he was offered his ice-cream, passing the second one to me before handing over the requested amount of coins. I grimaced because it was suppose to be me paying this time, and from Sirius' smug smile, he knew it to. So he could still be polite then, good to know.

"Orange Sirius? Orange?" The bespectacled boy asked with a grimace, putting in his order for a bowl of chocolate himself, extra sprinkles.

"I was converted, blame Evans here."

"Evans? As in, Lily Evans?" The boy who could only be James Potter tilted his head to a side, sharp hazel eyes taking in everything about me. He almost got his ice-cream dumped on him for not paying attention, but seemed to have found what he was looking for regardless.

"My sister," I answered, licking at the cool treat and chuckling under my breath as Sirius did a double take.

"Well you do look similar, but Evans' is a stickler for the rules, and you're, er, not."

"Nope. Lily's usually the one that covers for me after I've been in a fight actually. I don't like people picking on my sister or her friends... Do I need to punch any of you in the nose?"

Suddenly, all four boys shared a nervous glance amongst each other, Sirius suddenly remembering the story I'd told him about fighting Chris Booker for even daring to pull my sister's pig-tails. All four looked hesitant to mention the fact they'd been bullying Snape, I could already read it on their faces, so instead I just flicked Potter and Sirius on the nose, smirking as they both yowled in surprise.

"I'll let you off this time, but pack it in. Don't prank people unless you're getting even." As far as I was concerned, the Marauders could prank anyone they want as long as they had a reason to do so. I wasn't going to stop them getting back at someone if they were pranked first. After-all, I'd be giving them as good as I will no doubt be getting.

"Anyway," Sirius started loudly, gesturing with his ice-cream holding hand and sending splatters of it across Remus' Lupin's scarred face, "this is Poppy May Evans, professional hell raiser and giver of black eyes." He'd lost a good portion of my actual title, but I suppose it was close enough, and the rest of the boy's seemed to get the message I wasn't afraid to get dirty and brawl with someone.

"Flower-face, these idiots are James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, my fellow Gryffindors." It was almost like this was the Sirius Black show in that moment, with the main character introducing the supporting cast. Each boy had waved at their name and I took a good look at the trio.

James Potter was a riot of black hair, pretty glasses and sharp hazel eyes. Remus Lupin, in contrast, had carefully styled chestnut brown hair, golden brown eyes and aged scars that almost blended into his face. Peter Pettigrew was rounder than his friend, shorter too, but he didn't look as unappealing as I'd been expecting. He was still the least pretty of the four, but not by as large a margin as I'd been expecting. Well, I suppose someone had to draw the short straw.

While I knew he had the possibility to grow into the man that would sentence my sister to death, right now, he was just a child. Just like James had the possibility to grow into a man Lily would come to love, or Snape could become a nasty Death Eater.

Well, it'd be interesting to see how it all plays out I guess.

"Right then, fill me in on some of your pranks then."

.

James was half-way through discussing how they'd managed to get Lucius Malfoy with a bucket of muggle glitter and glue -sent up to the Marauders by Peter's deviant half-blood mother- when a voice cut through story time.

"Sirius. Mother says it's time to go."

The five of us fell silent, having paused as we were eating out way through the chocolate James had brought with him. Turning, I looked to the boy that was addressing Sirius. He was very similar, strikingly so. Younger brother no doubt. About my age. It had to be Regulus Black, there shouldn't be another male Black running around at this age. Beside me, Sirius gave a low sigh, rolling his eyes before begrudgingly getting to his feet.

"I guess I'll be seeing you simpletons on the train next."

It only took me a few seconds to realize Regulus wasn't looking at the other boys, but instead eyeing my obviously muggle clothing with disgust. NO idea why, I was in a pretty dress that buttoned down the front, and the pattern was rather tame for the seventies. Fashion was going to become even more of a riot over the next few years, and if this was going to be the reaction of the pure-bloods, I'd be buying the brightest, eye-searing clothing I could the first chance I got.

"Sirius. Why are you sat with a mudblood?"

What little conversation that'd started up ground to a halt as all four boys turned to look at Regulus with various degrees of shock, horror and fury on their faces.

"Don't call her that!" James snarled, surging to his feet and slamming his fist on the table, almost spilling Remus' newly bought chocolate milkshake.

"Yeah!" Peter chimed in, but I put my hand on his shoulder before he too could leap to his feet.

Instead, I calmly turned to look at the younger brother, inspecting his attire, his carefully styled hair and the pinched expression on his face.

"Did you know it was a muggle-born that invented Skele-Gro? I take it you won't be growing any bones back, considering we're so beneath your standing that you wouldn't ever need one of our inventions to help you? Or how about Obliviate? That's another muggle-born inventor, Mnemone Radford, will you not be using that one either? The Ministry doesn't seem to have a problem using it." Smiling, I got to my feet, standing nose to nose with Regulus who drew himself up at my approach, surprisingly not backing down though.

Even if he did look a little wide eyed at my abrupt proximity.

"It doesn't matter how many names you call me. I'm going to be the best damn student Hogwarts sees over the next few years. Give it ten years tops, and you'll begging to use my spells." I let Sirius pull me away at this point, not looking back at Regulus as I did so. Instead, I spun around in Sirius' hold, giving him a quick goodbye hug as I did so.

"See you on the train Dog-breath."

Sirius grinned, and that was the only warning I got before my hair blew up like an afro.

"Oh it is so on!"

* * *

><p><strong>And so the chapter length grows.<strong>

**I took the Pottermore test for Poppy's character, and that is the wand she ended up with. I was hesitant to stick with it, because hell, it was Elder wood. But in the end, I decided to keep it. **

**I'm really leaning towards Gryffindor for Poppy at the moment, she's turned out to be more of a fire-cracker as these chapters have been wrote. I didn't really plan her character out, that's just how she's evolved. As far as I can tell, she's hesitant to handle Snape because she knows he has the potential to become a Death Eater -you'll see that shine through when she get's left alone with Peter for a bit as well- but she knows Sirius is all right, that he'll stick by those that have his loyalty for ever.**

**.**

**Coming up next;  
><strong>_In which revenge happens, the rat fears the cat and Regulus Black becomes my personal Draco Malfoy, only prettier_

_._

**Questions and Comments to be addressed;**

**Is Poppy's thirst for knowledge greater than her loyalty to family and friends, or her sense of justice and need for adrenaline?  
><strong>_That is the question of the day, is it not? We shall see. Regarding the houses, I don't think its 100% what you are, but rather what you could grow to be, what your potential is and where it'd be best to put you to see that growth. That's just me personally I guess, anyone else?_

**Is Poppy going to join the Marauder's pulling pranks?**  
><em>They may collaborate at some point in the future, but for now, Poppy's going to working on her own for a good deal of time. Mainly because few others would be mature enough to think on the same scale as her. She's preparing for war and only taking the time to play child when she gets too stressed, the rest of them are children. So, no, Popy will not become the fifth member of the Marauders or anything like that.<em>

_**How far are you going with this?**  
><em>I've got plans for Harry's time-line if that's what you're asking.<em>_

**_I do like being asked questions, it helps me think and flesh out my story, so keep them coming please._**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	6. Part 1-5

**A Fresh Bouquet**

_x_

**Part 1-5  
><strong>_In which revenge happens, the rat fears the cat and Regulus Black becomes my personal Draco Malfoy, only prettier_

.

Sirius Black let out a cry of surprise as his previously smooth face burst into a flurry of facial hair. The strands wove with one another before becoming a rather impressive five point beard and hair combo, several braids running through the thick, dark locks. He let out a moan as if it pained him to think of how visually offensive he looked while patting at the top of his head.

It was music to my ears. I'd gotten the inspiration from the Hobbit, or more specifically, the movies I'd seen during my first life. Mainly Nori's hairstyle. I'd spent the rest of summer looking over the beard growing charm, just for Sirius. It was easy to recall the fact Dumbledore's protections on the Goblet of Fire had gifted two twin brothers with beards, so I knew something like it had to exist. It'd taken me a week or so to reason that, if I willed it enough, then the beard wouldn't just come out one long mess, but could be forced into a style, as long as I could picture such a thing in my mind. And all in revenge for the afro that hadn't left my head.

I'd had to cut it off, while Lily had produced me a hair growth potion from Diagon Alley considering Mother refused to let me leave the house. Petunia had been just a little too snip happy with those scissors when I asked her to rid me of the afro before school. Oh, there was probably a magical counter, but I'd not been able to find it. Was there a magical counter for Sirius' new do? Undoubtedly. Would he have to wait till he arrived at school? Indeed he would.

Snickering to myself, I ducked behind Lily as the boy's grey eyes swirled around the platform, looking for the source of his new beard. My older sister gave a low chuckle, a sound she tried to smother deep within her throat. No doubt she'd caught sight of the boy, along with his new and improved facial grooming. Then again, Sirius was only twelve, so of course he wouldn't have much in the way of facial hair yet. Or at least, I hoped not.

Running a hand through my hair, I gave my mother and father one last goodbye kiss before snatching up the handle of my trunk and racing over to Sirius, who seemed to have accepted the fact he'd gained a good amount of hair and was now stroking it in a wise, wizardly fashion.

"Ah, young student. I see you finally got your invitation to our prestigious school."

"Of course Professor Black, I'm over the moon to have been accepted into this esteemed educational institution." Our eyes met for a second, and I felt my lips twitched as I desperately attempted to not smile at his idiocy. I failed. We both gave a strangled giggle, clearly Sirius had tried to remain as in character as I, and failed at an equal measure.

"You shaved all your hair off?"

Shaking my head, I raised one hand up to the short red locks, smoothing down the fly away strands that lay in my peripheral vision. When the afro had died a quick death at the hands of Petunia, I'd opted to take only a small amount of the hair growth potion, leaving me with short red locks that fell in a neat pixie cut, should I be bothered to style it during a morning. Mother thought the hair-style, whilst radically different to the luscious long locks that all the females of our family had so far, suited me. I had yet to tell her that I'd nabbed a whole tub of Father's hair gel and would be styling my new do into a series of punk like spikes. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"No thanks to you, but it looks cooler this way. I just gotta get out of sight from my parents before I can fix it." Tugging my trunk a bit closer, I grinned up at Sirius, who just smirked back, gesturing for me to trail after him.

.

"You can sit with us for a few minutes, but after that we gotta kick you out. Marauders stuff, top secret and not for girls."

"Please, give it two years tops and you'll be begging for my company." Snorting, I roll my eyes, dropping my trunk in the centre of the compartment and seating myself upon it with a grin.

Sirius had paused during the process of loading up his own trunk, looking between the expensive polished wood of his own, to the rustic vibe of my own. Or rather, the paintings upon it. I'd taken a day to decorate my trunk, painting on some of the more influential musical influences of the current times. Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and The Who. Their album covers had been lovingly recreated and smeared across my trunk surface. It truly was a work of art.

"Why's your trunk so cool?"

I'd flipped open the lid now, pulling out the hair gel I'd stored on top of my ever so neatly folded clothes. Unscrewing the lid, I took a good dollop and smeared it through my hair, running my fingers through the red mess until it was no doubt sticking up in every direction in wild spikes. That, combined with the earrings I'd made myself after buying a cheap fang of questionable origin and using it to replace the dangling feather on one earring, I no doubt was a shock to pure-blood eyes.

"'Cause I painted it myself and it's got muggle music on it. I've got the records with me, if we can find a record player then I can start converting you into a genuine muggle ruffian."

Sirius grinned again, flopping back into his seat and catching the pack of fudge I sent his way. I felt comfortable with Sirius, more so than I'd done with Snape anyway. Maybe it was because I knew this boy here would never dream of betraying someone, of turning his back on those closest to him. And Snape, Snape would be the one to put my sister in the firing line, accidental as it was. Hell, if he'd not known my sister before hand, he might not have even cared, and that didn't sit right in my stomach. Sure he was just a child at the moment, but there was always the future. There would always be something going on, something happening. He'd been made into that by what happens now, the only difference was that I was here. And while I'd always be in Lily's corner, I could hopefully extend my reach to include Snape on the whole helping front.

"Whoa. What happened to your hair mini Evans? Oh Merlin Sirius, were the two of you attacked?! Who did it, we'll get them back!"

Snorting, I rolled my eyes at James, who bounced into the compartment, trunk lodging itself beside Sirius with a flick of his wand.

"Nah, I just decided on a new style instead of the same hair as my sister I guess."

"And I guess you just 'matured' over summer?" James snipped at Sirius, one eyebrow raised as he did so.

"Err, no. That one was actually me."

Whatever Sirius was going to say at my blatant confirmation of my guilt was cut off as Peter opened the door, walking in and then pausing at the sight of Mors curled up on my lap. With slow movements, he took a seat in the compartment, as far away from me as he could.

"What's the problem?"

"Peter got attacked by a cat when he was three, never been quite the same with them since." James shook his head in mock shame, while Sirius just grinned wildly, attempting to run a hand through his hair, forgetting the new style would not be allowing that.

"Right," Peter whispered quietly before turning back to look at me and offering up a sheepish grin. It was almost endearing. Almost. "What do I have to do to get that beard charm then?"

.

I was kicked out of the Marauders Lair twenty minutes later, James loudly proclaiming that they had to plan how they were going to go about avenging Sirius for the whole beard thing. I looked forwards to it. I'd walked up and down the corridor of the train station, until I found a compartment housing two boys and a girl. Two half-bloods and a muggle-born by the name of Dirk Cresswell, who's name I recognised but could not, for the life of me, recall any more information about. I'd been sat in that compartment for a while, scribbling out notes and wards, recalling everything I could to test myself, when the door opened. However, it wasn't until the newcomer spoke that I finally dragged my head out of my book.

I mean, how could one not respond to the oh so welcoming, "Oh, it's you," that echoed through our compartment.

Placing my pointer finger between the pages that I was currently working on, I closed my book, looking up into the grey eyes of Regulus Black. He wasn't as pretty as Sirius, but that wasn't to say he wasn't a pleasant looking human being. But Sirius, like his name, shone so brightly in both personality and looks, it had to be hard to be in his shadow. I could almost empathise, I would if we were actually the same age. Lily was easily the most beautiful Evans sister. I wasn't terrible looking, but I didn't have the heart-shaped face, or the naturally occurring double eyelashes that Lily did. The freckles that span under my cheeks and bridge across the front of my nose were very distinct too.

"I almost mistook you for a boy, but I suppose a mudblood like yourself isn't too worried about ruining your feminine appeal."

"I feel flattered that you noticed that appeal last time we spoke. And that you remembered me at all." There was no point in fighting with Regulus. He was just a child who'd been brought up with by his parents to hold set beliefs. I knew how hard that was to fight. I'd read the stories, back in my past life, of gay teens struggling beneath their homophobia parents, of a girl wanting to introduce her black boyfriend to her family but terrified of her racist grandfather. This was the sixties, so in the muggle world there was less tolerance, things were no doubt the same in the wizarding world, especially with the tension that was Voldemort lying in wait in the background. I couldn't fault him for being pressured into following his parents, not when he'd eventually grow a spine against the biggest threat of them all. I could only hope and pray I'd be able to save him from such a tragic death. Maybe even stop him from becoming a Death Eater in the first place, like I was going to attempt with Snape and Peter.

Scoffing, Regulus looked off to a side, nose screwed up like he smelt something fowl but there was the lightest of embarrassed blushes upon his cheeks.

"It was hard to forget a catastrophe such as yourself. Especially now with that unsightly hair."

"Hey!" Corrie Sane, one of the half bloods, had shot to her feet, pointing at Regulus with a snarl on her once gentle face, "Poppy's hair rocks. It's better than the girlie hair you have."

Indeed, for someone with a muggle father as Corrie had, Regulus' shoulder length hair must have seemed rather extreme. It was carefully styled, and would probably looked better left wild like Sirius. Though it was probably carefully styled in order to not look like Sirius come to think of it. Much like for the reason I'd cut my own short.

"I'm once again flattered you took the time to notice my hair."

Cue deeper sneer.

"Yes, it suits you." His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but I just grinned regardless. I was the adult here, I had no need to get angry when he was just insulting me. If he went after my sister however, all bets were off.

"It's called a pixie cut. I've read that pixies cause lots of mischief and have surprising strength for their size. So thanks for the compliment."

"Black, just leave it. You're clearly not going to get through her thick head." Future Slytherin number one grumbled for behind the Black boy, footsteps letting me know he was walking away.

Regulus took a step back, frowning as he did so. "I'd be careful, if you remain that outspoken you and your associates will be in danger soon enough."

My insides chilled as Regulus walked away, Dirk slamming the door shut with a thunderous expression. Nonetheless Regulus had made a good point. Up until now, I hadn't had much problem with the idea of making myself a target, seeing as this was almost like my bonus life. But, what if I put Lily in danger, even more danger, by doing that?

The rest of the train journey was ruined for me after that, and not even noticing that Sirius' beard was a shocking blue -no doubt from the Marauder's attempts to rid him of it- cheered me up. I definitely had a lot to think on now.

* * *

><p><strong>Mmmmm, I really should not be updating right now. I should be working on my Lit Review, but then this happened. So, yeah. I'm a terrible student. <strong>

**Regardless, here we go. Poppy is on the express. Brilliant news, glorious even. **

**I'm honestly surprised by the amount of people that want Poppy to get with Sirius. Like, really, really surprised. And now I'm torn between both him and Regulus because you lovely damn people have put ideas in my head. So, erm, I'm going to be putting up a poll to get opinions on that. I don't have a final pairing set yet, but I was heavily leaning towards Regulus until I wrote this chapter. **

**Speaking of which, baby brother Black will improve, I promise. But he is a child that's been rather sheltered and brought up with one set of beliefs. It's going to take a while before he can change his opinion/start doubting what he's been told. Regulus has conformed to his parents more than Sirius, but that doesn't mean he's not got a heart -evidence in the relationship with Kreacher- and morals -evidence being the Horcrux business- so we'll see where I take that.  
><strong>

**.**

**Also, there was a poll up about making Lily and Poppy descendants of Slytherin. A whopping 77% of you said yes. Which I'm very surprised about; I thought the two of them being Parselmouths would be an unpopular idea to be honest. So, yeah. Surprises there. That'll be going through then. **

**.**

**Coming up next;  
><strong>_In which a hat gets surprisingly emotional, a letter is sent and I figure out the routine for the next seven years_

_._

**Questions and Comments to be addressed;**

**Is it wrong that I want James/Poppy?  
><strong>_Oh dear, you've put ideas in my head where James decides that he'll get a better idea of what Lily wants and decides to ask Poppy on a date to Hogsmeade to get Lily jealous and Poppy doesn't know and has a freak out that Harry's not going to get born.  
>It's not wrong at all, but it's not going to seriously happen I'm afraid.<em>

**Btw, will poppy start training for war in the RoR of maybe start somekind of group where they practise defence?**  
><em>I have plans what what Poppy is going to do regarding the war, which will be starting in the next chapter. So, you'll get to see what Poppy has planned, what she'g going to be getting up to, over the next few chapters. <em>

**Anisthasia Zewi Cortexz and you'r questions;**_  
><em>There was a lot of questions in your review about the future of this story, but I'm afraid I've not thought much further than 1979 at the moment, so I'm afraid I can't answer much on that front right now, so please bare with me?<em>_

__**I'm hoping you are going to make Poppy excel in other things besides just runes/spell-crafting.**  
>Well, I have plans for this too. Poppy is going to be naturally talented when it comes to magical theory, simply because her brain is working on a higher level than all of her classmates, so she'll be zooming ahead in that really. I'm considering having her good at DADA, but she'll have to work at it to, everything won't suddenly start going right for her. She'll be pretty good at everything really, mainly because she's older and has a stronger mind than her 'peers', but she'll be really talented with wards and runes. DADA will be her next best out of minor natural talent and lots of necessary workpractice on the subject. __

**But explain this how is Poppy being nice to Petunia knowing what she will do if she is cold to Sev and Peter and Reg for the same reason?**__  
>Because Poppy has grown up with Petunia, she's her sister and not the kind of tie you can just cut off. Or at least, Poppy believes so. That doesn't mean that she's not going to warm up to the other three, but interacting with those three and anyone else at Hogwarts will effect the future, be it small ripples of tsunami sized waves. At the moment, she's cautious of that, but eventually she'll come to the conclusion that she's already ruined the previous story line and just start going by gut instinct. <em>_

**Will Lucius Malfoy be making an appearance?**__  
>He will indeed<em>_

**Will she learn the Fidelius Charm at some point in the future? **__  
>I'm not sure, haven't thought of that yet. <em>_

**Where are Poppy's flaws? If she has any?**__  
>Poppy see's the big picture. She sees he big result, what will be to come should she get everything right -or wrong- and struggles to focus on the now. She struggles to relate to other children her age, and that's going to come across soon enough. She's going to get frustrated by other children and their childish behaviour as soon as she's spent a bit more time around them. And sometimes she's going to slip with knowledge that she shouldn't know, or see someone as just a character in a book and not the living person they now are. It's not really effected her up until this point aside from the little apathy towards Snape. She cares for Lily and Petunia because she's seen them grow alongside her, they've loved her, and she's going to struggle to form those kind of attachments to others as she is now. More character growth obviously needed.<em>_

**So Regulus is going to be her pain in the butt Rival at school?**__  
>Yeah, but more intellectual levels. I see Regulus as someone who was quite smart, but his intellect was overshadowed by his brother, who constantly rebelled and just had more charisma. Regulus makes me think of someone who's been used to working in the wings for so long, that when he's suddenly thrust into the main actors role he's not completely sure how to fill it, and almost overdoes it while trying to do his best. So yeah, they'll have a rivalry because Poppy will constantly be challenging his beliefs and views. <em>_

**_I do like being asked questions, it helps me think and flesh out my story, so keep them coming please._**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	7. Part 1-6

**A Fresh Bouquet**

_x_

**Part 1-6  
><strong>_In which a hat gets surprisingly emotional, a letter is sent and I figure out the routine for the next seven years_

.

It seemed almost that this entire life I'd lived so far had been leading up to this moment, where my name was called out from a piece of parchment to beckon me forwards towards a worn looking hat. There was still a good selection of children stood in the centre of the great hall, so I had to dig my elbows into a few ribs to get to the front, bouncing up the steps as I went. I could feel eyes on me, could sense McGonagall's lips thinning as she took in my wild red hair and dangling fang earring. Other than that though, I was dressed neatly in my school robes, tie done in a neat little knot. I don't understand why she was so upset.

Okay, that was a lie. But I wasn't eleven. I wasn't nervous like all the other children attempting to be liked and trying to fit in. I had goals, and I wasn't going to let a little thing like peer pressure get in my way.

Sitting on the stool, I got one brief look at the sea of faces before me before it all disappeared beneath the black rim of a hat. There was an unnerving silence in my head for a few seconds, as I waited for the hat to start talking.

But it didn't.

It remained quiet, and just as I was beginning to think that maybe the hat wouldn't sort me because my soul was faulty, there was finally sound. In the form of laughter. It didn't last long, but it was enough for a nervous grin to make its way onto my face.

'_Well, this is new. My my Miss Evans, you are going to make a mess, aren't you?_'

'_I just want my sister to get to her twenty second birthday. She's my sister, how could I not want that? If I can help anyone else who doesn't deserve their fate, who wants an out, then I'll try. But I don't own anyone anything. Only my sisters._'

The hat made a throaty humming sound, and I got the distinct impression that if it were a man, it would no doubt be rubbing at a long beard in a much wiser manner than what Sirius had attempted not six hours ago. Drumming my fingers against my knees, I scrunched my eyes shut, seeing as it was almost impossible to see anything with them open thanks to the large hat. Gryffindor must have had a big head.

'_Indeed he did. All that hair. I'd have told him to cut it, but then it would be a different hat sat on your head today._'

Frowning at the blatant abuse of mind reading powers, I gave a small shrug.

'_I suppose that's true_'.

'_Mmmm, no one else really wonders why Godric had such a large hat, they just accept it. Intelligent conversation is so hard to come by these days. Do visit me over the years, I look forwards to socializing and few actually do take me up on this offer._' Hum, the hat almost sounded lonely, but then again, sat in an office for days on end couldn't be great fun I guess. It was a surprisingly wistfully hat. '_On with your sorting. You have a good deal of traits from all the houses, as does everyone, only in normal eleven year old children they're not as balanced as what you are, Miss Evans._'

'_Well, Slytherin is out. With the political climate what it is, that'd be suicide._'

'_You will make no friends in Ravenclaw, that it a given. While many Ravenclaws chase after academics, it is perhaps not the best decision for you._'

Humming, I cocked my head to a side, feeling the hat shift about my temples as I rested my chin on my clenched fist, elbow supported by my knee.

'_Seems we're down to two then._'

'_Yes. And I think I know the best house for you. Good luck with your goals, Miss Evans. For your ruthless determination and willingness for hard work belong in HUFFLEPUFF!'_

Taking the hat of my head, I looked down at my tie as yellow bled onto the black in a series of stripes, the house of badgers bursting out into applause as I offered the hat back to Professor McGonagall. Making my way down the steps, I slid onto the bench, where a second year reached over to slap me on the back in congratulations. I was the first female Hufflepuff of my year to be sorted, and the badgers were clearly quite happy over that, even if they seemed a bit miffed by my physical appearance.

I watched as Dirk was placed within Ravenclaw, as Rabastan Lestrange was sorted into Slytherin, a brief frown crossing my lips. I'd noticed it before, but it was even more apparent that we were being given an 'us' verses 'them' mentality now. It made sense in the founders time, because they were training for the outside world, which was actually like that. But we didn't have to worry about the muggles here, the houses did as much good as they did harm.

Twisting my torso around, I offered my sister a grin, before giving the Marauders a thumbs up. The four boys, one still wearing a bright blue beard, grinned back, and it was not a friendly expression. No, it was one of smug warning. They had a plan to get me back. I just had to outwit them. Somehow.

Clapping for the next child that got sorted into Hufflepuff, I looked to the other way across the hall, catching Snape's gaze and offering him a grin too. The boy frowned before returning to a conversation with one of his house-mates, effectively ignoring me. Great. I know I wasn't Lily, but really? Was he just going to ignore me all the time we were at Hogwarts? Surely not.

My eyes continued to roam the table of green and silver, settling on the prim form of Regulus Black. He was acting so composed, but it was forced. It was forced by all of the Slytherin first years. They were trying so hard to act like mini adults, trying too hard. They didn't seem to realize this was their last seven years as a child, the last seven years they'd get off easy with most things. It was almost painful to someone who'd been swimming out in the deep end of adult life for a few years before she'd gotten killed. And speaking of getting killed, I had a letter to write. Once I got to my new common room that was.

.

The Hufflepuff common room was beautiful. There were plants decorating the place, windows charmed with sunlight and, as the current time is, moonlight and overstuffed chairs and sofas thrown about everywhere. I'd have to see about introducing the giant cushion. Or making a fort for myself. And a few people I liked of course. Regardless of my future plans, the Hufflepuff common room felt like home.

I loved it.

The whole place was so cosy, and everyone was so friendly. Everyone but me that was. Social anxiety strikes again. And again and again. None of the children I'd sat with on the train had been sorted into the badger house, so it was just me on my own here right now, stood in a group with people whom I didn't know. For some reason, I had a good feeling I was going to end up the loner of Hufflepuff. I listened with only half an ear, instead focused upon the parchment I was currently resting on my knee, sat on one of the many sofas as I was.

_Dear Alastor Moody,_

_ My name is Poppy May Evans, and I am a first year student at Hogwarts. I have read about your career as a highly decorated Auror working for the Ministry, and that you have survived many fights and duels with dark witches and wizards. As a muggleborn and with the current political climate like it is, I am beginning to fear for my safety. No doubt you also sense the war brewing upon the horizon? I will not just sit back and allow those who believe less of me to rule my life, to make me fear them. I want to start training so that I may protect myself, and those important to me. Hence why I write this letter. Are there any books or other resources you could recommend I look into? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. _

_Thank you for listening,  
>Poppy Evans<em>

It was a bit stuffy for a letter, but I couldn't care less if it gets the job done. With that, I laid down upon my stomach, stretched across my bed and buried my face into the pillow. I couldn't wait on a reply from Moody, it'd probably not happen knowing how paranoid that man was. I needed to get strong enough to protect myself and Lily -and to a lesser extent, Petunia, even if she was simply protected by being in the muggle world- and to do that, I needed to start as soon as possible.

.

First day lessons were not bad. I had potions with the Ravenclaws, and seemed to have a somewhat minor talent at the subject. Not as good as Lily, but still better than most of the class. Of course, we spent only have of our potions lesson on actual potions.

The first half was used to introduce ourselves to Professor Slughorn, to go over the basics about ourselves and what interested us. I noticed he paid little attention to the muggleborn students, but I don't believe it was out of any blood based bias. No, it was more of a lack of connections than anything else. Maybe as they got older and started showing promise they'd get their rightfully deserved attention, but until such a time, it would appear that Slughorn would favour the purebloods and any others with solid connections. Well, at least, that's what I thought, up until the point where Slughorn got to my name on the register and his smile widened slightly.

"Miss Poppy Evans, sister of Lily I assume?"

I nodded, watching Slughorn take me in for the first time. I was radically different in appearance from Lily, what with my spikes of hair, fang earring and sharp blue eyes.

"Yes, your sister is quite the little talent in potions, do you think you share that?"

Sucking on my bottom lip, I considered. I could answer his question with the bare minimum, sure. But that wouldn't be productive for me. I needed connections, I needed help and Slughorn was the one who had the things I need. At least, within current reaching distance.

"As interesting as the idea of regrowing bones is, potions is more Lily's thing I'm afraid. I'm more about runes, warding and spell-crafting."

As expected, the professor perked up. So far, I'd been the only child to offer up such a specific yet not so specific interest. Sure, some people had said they wanted to be an Auror, but it was more for the glory of the job title. Others had said that they didn't care, or hadn't looked into it at the moment. I was the only one that appeared to have picked out my favourite path.

"Warding you say?" Repeating my words, Slughorn rubbed at his multiple chins, eyes narrowed slightly in consideration.

Whereas when I'd first walked into that bookstore a year and a bit ago, I'd been quite happy with the ideas of spell-crafting. It seemed cool, making up new spells. But, it wasn't actually all that hard. Not if you were smart enough, or had enough will power, for it. Though that certainly explained why a sixth year Snape could come up with such genius as he would.

But warding. Oh, the more I read, the more I wanted to know. it was incredibly difficult. It was a puzzle within a puzzle. Putting them up, building them one of top of the other was like making a house from playing cards. one wrong move and all of the wards would collapse inwards. In comparison, taking them apart was like a game of Jenga. You had to be precise, you have to be careful, but most importantly of all, if one thing went wrong, then it'd all come crashing down. And while the warding coming down was usually a good thing, having them come crashing down was not good, because it would set off every single ward, one after the other. Some of which could be quite painful.

It was delicate work, it was detailed work, it was the kind of work that sung to me. It was perfect, I'd pretty much found my dream job already. I had so many ideas ready to get started on, I just needed to work my skill level up to the point where I could attempt these ideas without them blowing up in my face.

"Yep, it's fascinating. I haven't got too far into the subject considering I only learnt about magic last year, but I just finished up a book on the mechanism between interlocking wards of the first tier and second tier, so I've got a bit of a way to go yet..." I trailed off, noticing the look of confusion upon Slughorn's face. For a moment, fear surged through me. Was it possible that I hadn't really understood what I was reading? That I'd gotten it all backwards? But it'd seemed so clear in the book when I'd been reading it.

"My apologies Miss Evans, I'm just a bit shocked. It's been a few years since I taught an aspiring warder, and even Proteus didn't get onto quite get into such technical detail until his fifth year." Slughorn gave me another considering look before nodding his head at me and them moving onto the next student on his list.

I had no idea what had just happened, but I knew a name to look up now. Proteus was apparently a warder than Slughorn had taught, so I'd have to find out first if the dude was still alive, and second, if he was willing to offer some help up to the aspiring muggleborn warder.

.

It was after the first day's lessons that I made my way up to the seventh floor, locating a special portrait and then pacing back and forth before a nearby wall. As expected, a door slowly appeared, a charming brown wood against the ancient stone of the Hogwarts castle walls.

Pulling the oak threshold open, I stepped inside, taking a look around the training room I'd created. It had a running track, targets for both spells and archery, even a rock climbing wall off to one side. There were several dummies for hand to hand combat, something I'd not gotten a chance to look into in the muggle world as Mother dearest was quite the pacifist, and even some swords to train with. Not that I'd get anywhere with them, probably. I might learn not to cut myself on them, but beyond that, I doubt anything else would ever be learnt on that topic without a tutor.

Regardless, it was the perfect place to train, the room had even included the little tunnel getaway, which meant I could train well into the night and not have to worry about making it back before curfew, because I'd requested the tunnel end at my bed's headboard, which would hopefully magic out the way so I could crawl into the sheets later tonight. The fact the tunnel doubled up as a slide, considering I was on the seventh floor and the Hufflepuff common-room was not? Well that was surely just a coincidence.

Lacing up my trainers, I threw off the school robes and accepted the running clothes the room made for me, making a mental note to most certainly put the stuff I came on back on before leaving. Ending up in the niff once I left the room was not on my to do list.

So, with that, my routine began.

* * *

><p><strong>I am a horrible, horrible student. I really am. So much for getting any work done today when all I've got in my fat head are ideas for this. It's typical, I can never write when I have the time, but when I have a deadline coming up suddenly there all these thoughts. <strong>

**Should I change Petunia from a main character on this to Regulus? Thoughts?**

**Speaking of Poppy and sports, there's a poll up regarding if she should play quidditch, and if so, what position. **

**.**

**Coming up next;  
><strong>__In which I realize I've perhaps bitten off more than I can chew, Regulus Black comes to the conclusion the world doesn't quite work the way he thought it had and the Gryffindors see their first invasion of the year__

_._

**Questions and Comments to be addressed;**

**Slytherin Ancestory;  
><strong>_Both Poppy and Lily -and thus, Petunia- have it, but they're not going to announce it to the world. They might as well go and paint a target all over their back and forehead for Voldemort. That is, when they find out themselves, which won't be for a while. _

**You're in the seventies, are women taken seriously?**  
><em>I'm not too sure on this to be honest, I mean, I'm pretty sure the Minister coming up with a woman, so, in the wizarding world at least, yes?<em>

**Will Hogwarts be sentient?**_  
><em>No, too much power down that route.<em>_

__**Poppy is sporty, quidditch? Duelling?**  
>As you can see in this, Poppy is not going to just sit back and float through Hogwarts. Nor is she going to rely on the resources that lay just in the castle. She's an adult, she's used to thinking on a bigger scale. And she's not going to back down after the first failure. As for Quidditch, that's mentioned above. <em>_

**Pureblood money and combatting that?**__  
>There's not much Poppy can do on this front I'm afraid, not for a very long while at least. <em>_

**Pranking team?**__  
>No, Poppy doesn't play well with other children, she's a bit of a loner in that regard. She struggles to approach them, as you can see with her relationship with Sirius, she lets him set the level that their friendship rests on, and follows off of that. She struggles to get used to new people and the only reason she got on with Sirius so well was because he approached her and didn't really take no for an answer. So no, Poppy will be rolling on her own for the forcible future. <em>_

**Is Poppy going to tinker with stuff at any point?**__  
>Maybe? It'll be ward based if she does, but I've got a few ideas so far. <em>_

**Will Poppy have an effect on the timeline?**__  
>Yep, to what extent though, I'm still undecided frankly. <em>_

**_I do like being asked questions, it helps me think and flesh out my story, so keep them coming please._**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	8. Part 1-7

**A Fresh Bouquet**

_x_

**Part 1-7  
><strong>_In which I realize I've perhaps bitten off more than I can chew, Regulus Black comes to the conclusion the world doesn't quite work the way he thought it had and the Gryffindors see their first invasion of the year_

.

"EVANS!"

A squeal of pure terror left my throat as I shot up from the Hufflepuff table, looking around wildly for the source of that magnificent bellow. A lone Slytherin seventh year who'd been making his way into the Great Hall with the air of someone who thought himself terribly wonderful leapt about four feet off of the ground, seeing as the source was right behind him.

Many of the students, myself included, watched with fear in our eyes as the man made his way down the great hall, stopping before me with a narrowed eye, the other bright blue one swinging back and forth, taking in the whole room all at once. The step-clunk combo had been more than enough to give it away, but that freaky eye sealed it. This was Alastor Moody. In the flesh. Well, almost. Wooden leg and whatever the hell his eyeball was made of. Hey, he hadn't lost half of his nose yet. Still though, he was significantly terrifying as it was. The frown on his face was obvious, but that still didn't tell me what the hell he was doing here. It'd been a whole week since I'd sent my letter off, and I'd gotten nothing in reply. It was now the second weekend of Hogwarts since I'd arrived, and I'd been planning to spend my Saturday holed up in the Room of Requirement and spend it training on my own.

"Yes?" Moody's eye once again narrowed before he walked down to the teachers table, stopping for a second to speak with Dumbledore. As he did so, I took a quick look around the main hall, taking in the faces of all the other students, a handful really, who'd bothered to get out of bed before seven on a Saturday morning. I'd just gotten back from a shower after my run around the lake, because cool air was always good for the lungs in a morning. Every face was staring at either Moody or I in disbelief, and I suppose I could understand that. It wasn't every day and Auror showed up and shouted for a muggleborn.

With a flick of my wrist, my wand jumped out into my hand and I lazily began packing some fruit into my bag, as a snack while I was working in the RoR. It was purely by chance that I looked up in time to notice Moody levelling his wand at me, the tip glowing red. Panic shot through me as I summoned up a shaky shield, the spell I'd been working on ever since coming to Hogwarts. For a good defence is always the best to start off with when one knows they're going to be in danger. That didn't mean I trust my shield to hold up against a spell from Mad-Eye Moody of all people. Luckily, my used plate was still on the table, and I threw it in the path of the spell. The pottery dropped to the ground, smashing upon impact, but it had taken the spell for me instead of my shaky shield, so I couldn't' really complain. You know, other than the fact I'd had a spell shot at me in the first place.

"I like her," Moody hissed, looking back at Dumbledore. Beside our much beloved headmaster, Professor McGonagall seemed just a tad frazzled, though I couldn't really imagine why. But I had more things to worry about at the moment, Moody was making his way towards me again, not even seeming to notice the way the other Hufflepuff students cringed out of the way, looking genuinely terrified about his presence.

"You're weekends belong to me for the next five months."

The confusion must have been evident on my face, because Moody scoffed as he snatched up an apple, taking a vicious chomp while that bright blue eyes whirled around in his socket.

"I'm on forced medical leave for the next five months, it's apparently compulsory when you lose a leg, and your plight really touched me."

Raising a brow, I folded my arms, making sure to keep my wand arm over the top of my folded limbs.

"Somehow, I don't believe that."

Moody snorted.

"Sharp brat. No, today's Aurors are incompetents. One less incompetent in the world is good, even if I have to train you myself. Meet me at the Quidditch pitch in ten minutes. And remember, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

I knew it was coming, and I still leapt a foot in the air, scurrying out of the Great Hall like the hounds of hell, or well, Moody, was on my tail. This wasn't really what I'd expected when sending off that letter, and it sure as hell wasn't even in the realm of possible outcomes that I'd dreamed up. Without doubt it was going to be painful. Was I going to pass it up? Not a chance. What kind of torture Moody was going to put me through, I didn't know, but it would be beneficial in the end.

That was, if he didn't give me a heart attack first.

.

Dropping onto the bench at my house table, I let my body give up, head dropping onto the table, cradled in my arms as an agonised groan left my lips. I'd been pushed to the limit today, forced to go beyond my already daily physical training and even my magic felt worn. But I had learnt a surprising amount of useful spells. As well as some basics for duelling and then for fighting. Moody was a good teacher, if very stern and demanding.

"I heard Alastor Moody came for you today; when are you getting your wand snapped?"

Slowly letting one eye open, I scanned my current line of vision, but could not spot the source of the voice, even if I already knew who it was. However, I could not be bothered to move about to face Regulus Black, so the boy would just have to live with talking to my back. Or my side. Depends on where he's standing.

"'M't."

"I realize that it is difficult for those who do not receive a proper education to voice their thoughts, but I believe even your kind can do better than that."

Scrunching up my nose, I exhaled, tempted to rub at my aching back but my arms sung with too much pain to even attempt that. Nevertheless, I made a bit of an effort to speak clearly.

"I'm not." Something warm and soothing washed over me and I let out a moan of relief. It felt like I was suddenly submerged in a warm bath, the hot water wrapped lovingly around my muscles. Sitting up, I looked for the source, only to see a grinning James Potter slide onto the Hufflepuff table opposite me, piling high a plateful of food as he did so.

"Like it? That spell was my mum's invention for when I'd been playing too much Quidditch." It was perfect. Some form of muscle relaxant or soother, I didn't care. I needed it.

I could finally spot Regulus, who was stood about three feet away from James, arms folded and a frown on his face. However, the Potter heir was quick to draw my attention again, speaking around a mouthful of chicken leg.

"Heard that Mad-Eye Moody somehow suckered you into becoming his apprentice, and that he's going to train you into becoming a new breed super witch."

Snorting, I reached for a glass of sparkling coco-cola -I'd been down to see the elves about it, and they'd agreed to always have a bit of muggle fizzy pop ready for me on Saturday afternoons- and took a few sips, eyes rolling skyward as I did so.

"Please, like hell if I'd have been his first pick if that was the case. No, I made the mistake of writing him a letter asking for any references that could help me out when it came to learning to defend myself. He took it one step further and is training me while he's on sick leave."

James hummed, clearly more absorbed with his chicken than anything else. I was feeling a bit suspicious, because really. James Potter, head of the Marauders, sat up to the Hufflepuff table, chatting casually with a first year that just so happened to have pranked his mate recently? Yeah, I wasn't walking away from here intact.

"What do you mean he just turned up?"

Pausing in my suspicious staring, I turned to look at Regulus before shrugging.

"I guess I just got lucky. I asked. I put myself out there because what more can I do? As you like to point out, I'm not a pureblood. I don't have family connections. That just means I'm going to have to make some. Anyway, why do you hate muggleborns?"

"What?"

"That's actually a good question, why do you not like them?" James had twisted around to look at Regulus now, seemingly genuinely interested in hearing the boy's answer.

Regulus, on the other hand, was staring uncomprehendingly at me, as if he couldn't quite register the question I'd put forwards. His cheeks were stained ever so slightly pink, a scowl on his face once he recovered.

"I don't need to explain myself to someone of such filthy blood." And just like that he was gone, and I was left sat opposite James Potter and his grinning face.

"You know Potter," I murmured, toying with the carrot that rested on my plate, eyes still on the far too innocent visage of the Gryffindor second year, "I'm training with Mad-Eye Moody now. He had me working on sneaking in and out of places today. He's going to be telling me how to detect unusual substances in my food next week, so this will the last time you get me through that method."

I bit into the carrot and as expected, my skin turned a brilliant shade of gold. I had to give him points, I had no idea how he managed to see my skin gold, but match with my red hair, I was a walking Gryffindor advert now. James grinned, clearly happy for the challenge. I didn't have the heart to ruin his triumph. I'd let him enjoy the feeling for the rest of dinner.

* * *

><p>"What happened?!"<p>

Standing in his dorm room, James Potter could only flounder helplessly as his best friend poked at the yellow cushion on his yellow bedspread. Both of which had been red when he'd left the room earlier that day. Everything that had been gold, was black. And a good majority of the things in his dorm that had been red, was now yellow. Hufflepuff colours. And really, there was only one person who would go out of their way to do this today.

'_I'm training with Mad-Eye Moody now. He had me working on sneaking in and out of places today_'.

Sneaking in and out of places indeed. Their precious common room, dorm room, had been invaded.

Scowling, James Potter folded his arms dropping onto his bed while Sirius, obviously having come to the same conclusion regarding the culprit, grinned.

"I think, Jamesy, we've got our next prank victim."

And James agreed wholeheartedly.

.

* * *

><p><strong>So, the people have spoken, no Qudditch.<strong>

**And yes, Moody. I love that wacko. So, we're going to have Poppy have a reality check in the next chapter, so that should be fun to write. **

**I'm no finished with Uni for the year, so I'm in the process of updating my stories now. I got three done today, updates galore! **

**.**

**Coming up next;  
><strong>__In which we return from Christmas break, reality comes crashing down and I find out panic attacks are tremendously horrible things.__

_._

**Questions and Comments to be addressed;**

**I'm afraid I don't have time to answer questions today; it's nearly bed-time here and mother dearest is rushing me upstairs, sorry.**

**_I do like being asked questions, it helps me think and flesh out my story, so keep them coming please._**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


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